Stimulating Prewriting Skills with the Help of Pictorial Images

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, children who start school have already acquired basic reading and writing skills provided by their parents or preschool teachers. However, even if we choose to accept the fact that by teaching preschool children how to read and write parents wish to help them integrate successfully into the school environment and methods of work, we still need to emphasize that certain activities are not in balance with the needs, abilities, and potentials of a preschool child. At the same time some other possibilities are not being used enough (e.g., visual art). The present research introduces this aspect and presents training prewriting skills based on visual art activities given that visual art represents one of the primary media that every child spontaneously uses in his or her preschool years.

Notes

¹ We use the term grapho-motor skills for the skills that are not yet writing, but they train different use of pencil and develop specific motor skills by drawing diverse linear forms (straight verticals, long horizontals, round, zigzag, spiral, etc.) that later ease crossing to the letters.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Uršula Podobnik

Dr. Uršula Podobnik (b. 1972) is a teacher of art education. She studied art education at the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, where she also earned a doctoral degree in art education in 2008. Currently she is a senior lecturer of art didactics at the Department of Art Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana.